GOLD actually stands for Generic OnLine Diagnostics. From Cisco's website:GOLD verifies that hardware and internal data paths are operating as designed. Boot-time diagnostics, continuous monitoring, and on-demand and scheduled tests are part of the Cisco GOLD feature set. GOLD allows rapid fault isolation and continuous system monitoring. GOLD was introduced in Cisco NX-OS Release 4.0(1). GOLD is enabled by default and Cisco do not recommend disabling it.

So in our example GOLD is actually reporting a major event (to do with exceeded thresholds, in this example utilisation on interface fc4/5).

Most clients using Cisco MDS switches are now moving to NX-OS (over SAN-OS, the name Cisco used for MDS firmware between version 1 and version 3) so this question will become more common. I am working on a post that discusses recommended versions (and the sunsetting of SAN-OS), so expect something soon. If on the other hand you are thinking.... how do I setup call home on a Cisco MDS switch? The information for NX-OS is here.

Curiously my brain cannot help itself, when I hear Gold Major I think it means Gold Leader which leads me to Red Leader which leads me to Red October. Maybe it's just me? Enjoy: